Book contents
- A Concise History of Belgium
- Cambridge Concise Histories
- A Concise History of Belgium
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Maps
- Acknowledgments
- Note on the Text
- Introduction
- 1 Earliest Times
- 2 The Era of the Frankish Kingdoms
- 3 The Origins of the Medieval Principalities
- 4 Unifying the Netherlands: The Burgundy–Habsburg Period (1384–1555)
- 5 The Spanish Netherlands (1555–1700/1713)
- 6 The Austrian Netherlands (c.1700–1780)
- 7 The Formation of a New Nation-State (1780s–1830)
- 8 The Consolidation of a Bourgeois Regime (1831–1880s)
- 9 The Belgian Nation-State at Its Height (1880s–1945)
- 10 The Metamorphoses of a Nation-State (from 1945 to the Present Day)
- General Conclusion
- Appendix: List of Rulers, Sovereigns and Heads of State (1419–Present) and of Governors General (1507–1794) of the Southern Low Countries and Belgium
- Further Reading
- Index
6 - The Austrian Netherlands (c.1700–1780)
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 March 2023
- A Concise History of Belgium
- Cambridge Concise Histories
- A Concise History of Belgium
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Maps
- Acknowledgments
- Note on the Text
- Introduction
- 1 Earliest Times
- 2 The Era of the Frankish Kingdoms
- 3 The Origins of the Medieval Principalities
- 4 Unifying the Netherlands: The Burgundy–Habsburg Period (1384–1555)
- 5 The Spanish Netherlands (1555–1700/1713)
- 6 The Austrian Netherlands (c.1700–1780)
- 7 The Formation of a New Nation-State (1780s–1830)
- 8 The Consolidation of a Bourgeois Regime (1831–1880s)
- 9 The Belgian Nation-State at Its Height (1880s–1945)
- 10 The Metamorphoses of a Nation-State (from 1945 to the Present Day)
- General Conclusion
- Appendix: List of Rulers, Sovereigns and Heads of State (1419–Present) and of Governors General (1507–1794) of the Southern Low Countries and Belgium
- Further Reading
- Index
Summary
In 1700 the last king of the Spanish Habsburg monarchy died. After a turbulent and complex period (1702–1713) the Spanish Netherlands eventually became a possession of Charles II’s Austrian cousins. This transfer of sovereignty was the result of a long war, the last one in a series of wars that had afflicted the Southern Low Countries from 1621 (see Chapter 5). The Austrian period in “Belgian” history, presented here, began in 1713 and ended in 1794. In sharp contrast with the previous century, it was a period of peace, with the exception of four years in the 1740’s and 1787–1794. The political and social changes leading to the revolutions and the revolutionary wars that ended the Austrian regime, are discussed in chapter 7: they were part of what the British historian Eric Hobsbawm has called “The Age of Revolution” (1789–1848).
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- A Concise History of Belgium , pp. 178 - 202Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023